The Taste of Loneliness
by JustKidd
Summary: When Mark met Lyn under different circumstances. Yes, the title doesn't make any sense. Oneshot.
1. Chapter 1

The Taste of Loneliness

Mark walked the main road of Greentree, weaving his way through the early morning risers of the small town. The sweet aroma of fresh bread and burnt coffee invaded his nostrils, making his stomach growled. He stopped and looked at the shop where those darned temptations came from. The lady of the place went back and forth, with a tray full of fresh-baked bread (he presumed) on one hand and a jug of hot coffee (he also presumed) on the other, serving her patrons and shouting to the middle aged man behind the counter. Mark let out a loud sigh, pulled his hood further down his face, tucked his cloak closer to his chest, and made his way out of the town.

*Grumble*

Mark sighed at hearing the sound for the hundred times. He had been walking for what seemed like a century, and the sun was directly above his head, brilliantly shining, sending all its positive energy to the mortal world underneath. _Great, just great._ He let out another sigh and rubbed his stomach with both hands.

"Look, I know we're not exactly on good terms these past few days, but can't you just stay quiet until we get to the next town?"

*Grumble*

"I know it's been a while, but…" the man brought out his purse, opened it, and hold it upside down in front of him, "as you can see, there's nothing I can do right now. Next one's a little bigger, with some lucks, we might find a job that pays this time around."

*Grumble*

"Now you're just being mean. I didn't hear you complaining when the lady paid us with three days' worth of bread before, which as I recalled, _you_ finished in two."

*Grumble*

"That's it! We're done. I'm not talking to you till we get to the next town. Good day."

"Pfft, tee hee…"

Mark stopped his… ramblings when a giggle made its way to his ears. He turned around to see a girl covering her mouth with her right hand. She was holding a small pouch in her left hand, and her green ponytail swayed gently whenever her body twitched, no doubt from trying not to laugh.

"I… I'm sorry. It's rude of me, but…" she covered he mouth once more, failing miserably at stifling her giggle. Mark smiled, waiting for the girl to get catch her breath. "You do know you need to listen to your gut whenever they decided to talk, right?" The man only managed a shrug at the young woman's remark. "I can only offer you some flatbreads, but if you don't mind…"

"Reall-"

*Grumble*

"Oh you hush up."

She didn't even bother masking her laughter at that one.

.

.

Mark looked around at the inside of the hut, _ger_ , as Lyn called it, while the woman busied herself in the kitchen.

"So, what's your story?" Mark raised his head to meet Lyn's gaze. "We don't get that many travelers here, especially this time of year." She proceeded to pour some flour into a bowl, and mixed some water along with a couple of other herbs into it.

"Nothing special, really. Just a travelling tactician trying to earn some coins for himself. Turns out peacetime aren't really that good for making money."

"Unless your definition of tactician's different than mine, I'm pretty sure that's not ordinary at all." Lyn said, bringing a few flattened doughs outside of the leather hut. "You know, if you're looking for a job, heading to Bern might be a good choice. Some warlords there would kill to get a tactician on their side. All we got here are the occasional bandits and ruffians, hardly a thing for a skilled tactician to care about." Her voice came about from outside, along with the aroma of burning dough.

.

.

"There. Dig in."

Mark was astounded at the amount of food on the table. There were flatbreads, just like Lyn offered, and _others._ The grilled meat, cut into thin slices, glistened with its own juice, with thin smoke still coming out of the fresh cut. The sweet, creamy smell of fresh milk from the mashed potato invaded his nostrils, making his stomach growled even louder. And let's not forget the fresh vegetables that Lyn just plucked outside of her hut.

"Lyn, you do know I can't pay for any of these, right? Don't you think it's too much for a stranger you just met on the side of the road?"

"It's fine. You're Mark, and I'm Lyn. We're hardly strangers now. And besides…" Lyn's face turned cloudy for a moment, "it's been so long since I had a guest, I kinda went overboard." She said, sticking her tongue out in a child-like manner.

Mark just smiled at the girl's antics. "Well, if you say so." Mark reached for a flatbread and put it on his plate, while Lyn took a seat on the other side of the table.

* * *

 **The end. You guys know what happens after this.**

 **I don't know when the next chapter of CoM will be finished, but I'm working on it right now, albeit very slowly.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Lyndis sighed as she put the medium-sized sack over her shoulder, holding it by the leather strip and keeping it in place. Her grip tightened as she eyed her surroundings. Heat crawled behind her eyes as she moved from her own ger, the only one still intact, to the ones with only frames, to the ones now lying under black, dusty ashes. She closed her eyes as the wind blew gently at her, bringing along the smell of ripened wheat.

She focused her thought to the days when the smell would brought her so much joy, when this particular piece of land was filled with familiar faces, when she was half her height now, running amongst the golden 'sea', with Florina giggling behind her. They'd ran into Old Hubba, directing the men and the women, and the children to their tasks, and her mother would scold them for it, which would convince them to stop if not for the smile on her face. Then Florina's mother would call to them from behind and gave them the sweets she brought from the city. And they would eat them side-by-side while watching their fathers and her people tend the field…

Ever since that _day_ , this was another thing she added to her dailies. When she went to work on her small garden, fishing for something in the nearby river, on her lonely journey to the town for supplies, she would close her eyes and think of the memories from back then. When everyday was like a warm summer's day, bright and full of life.

The images playing in front of her vanished in and instant when she felt a gentle tug on her shoulder. Lyndis opened her eyes to see Mark smiling beside her.

"We could postpone for a few more days," he said.

"No, it's fine. I've… been putting this off for far too long now. It's been too long I can't believe I'm finally doing this." Lyndis flashed him a sad smile and started walking. She stopped after a few steps and turned around to face her brunette friend. "Do you think… I'll come back here again?"

"Who knows? The world is a vast place. After you've seen what you want to see, ate whatever won't kill you outright, done what you need to do, then maybe. When you can think of this place as just more than a memory, maybe you'd want to come back."

"I… see." Lyndis blinked the tears out of her eyes and beamed a smile at hearing Mark's words. "I guess there's no use wasting our time then. The world _is_ a vast place after all."

.

.

The pair reached their first destination three days after starting their journey. For Lyndis, who had only set foot in the nearby village only when she had ran out of supplies, Bulgar was interesting, or rather, intimidating to say the least.

Unlike Greentree, the residents would not even take a look at two strangers entering their gates. Their paces were fast, and carriages hogged the streets practically all the time. One almost ran her over when they were about to cross the street to get to a different part of the city. If the streets of Bulgar were intimidating, then this part was downright frightening to the Sacaen woman. Shops and stalls lined on her left and right, continuing towards the back for as long as she could see. People were shouting, arguing, bargaining(?) with each other in front of each stores. Some were singing and dancing in the middle of the street, pouring out the liquid from their mugs onto the stone pavement. Lyndis went slackjawed and her eyes opened wide at the sights. She closed her mouth immediately when the scent of foods and spices, she assumed, as they made her mouth water for no apparent reason.

The woman turned her head to her companion when a growl made its way to her ears. She chuckled as Mark let out a loud sigh beside her.

"I guess we know where we'll be heading next." He gestured his right hand at her.

Lyndis flashed him a smile and reached for her friend. They only managed to take one step when an unfamiliar voice called to them from behind.

"Oh lovely maiden, where art thou my entire life?"

Mark and Lyndis looked at each other with a frown on their faces. They turned around to see the face that could even think of the words in this day and age.

* * *

 **I needed a break from CoM.**

 **As you can probably tell, this fic was not planned. I'm just writing it when the mood strike, and I don't know if there'll be anymore update, so I'll just keep its oneshot status.  
**


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